Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance, presented a
report on the financial performance of the Service during the
2019/20 financial year, to the end of August 2019. The following
points were discussed:

(a)
the current underspend remains at £1.1million. This is
because the day-crewing project was delivered on time and did not
require its £200,000 contingency; payments of £647,000
for the Joint Control Room merger and the planned closure of the
Prince’s Trust Programme were ultimately accounted for in the
2018/19 financial year (rather than in 2019/20, as initially
anticipated); and the Service received £672,000 to compensate
for loss of income from National Non-Domestic Rates caused by
Government policy, which was £233,000 above the estimate
figure used in the budget;

(b)
it is proposed to allocate the £200,000 day-crewing project
contingency budget to cover over-time pay in whole-time roles,
where additional cover has been required due to long-term sickness.
In addition, some senior vacancies – which, traditionally,
are uniformed roles – have been filled by non-uniformed
members of staff on a temporary basis. As uniformed and
non-unformed staff roles are budgeted separately, it is proposed to
re-balance the budgets to reflect the positions that they have been
funding;

(c)
the overall on-call pay budget is expected to be underspent by
£214,000. This is due to a reduction in the number of planned
recruitment courses and a lower numbers of on-call staff than was
included in the budget. It is proposed that £35,000 of the
underspend is allocated to on-call pension provision, where an
overspend is anticipated due to the new rates announced in March. A
further allocation of £65,000 is proposed towards on-call
community safety work, which was identified as a priority in the
Strategic Plan and an area requiring improvement in the recent
Service inspection;

(d)
the General Reserve is predicted to be £5.5million at the end
of the financial year, with an anticipated spend from earmarked
reserves of £429,000 towards planned expenditure. The
reserves will remain above the required minimum level of
£3.9million;

(e)
capital programme spending to date is £425,000. A number of
small ICT schemes are progressing well, but a review of the Tri
Service Project is necessary following the creation of the Joint
Control Centre with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service. Expenditure
may be delayed into 2020/21 for this project. The new hose and
storage drums have been delivered and installation is underway. The
upgraded breathing apparatus communication equipment has been
delayed to allow more time for thorough testing. As such, it may be
possible to bring forward the upcoming project to update fire
helmets, to align the two projects. The installation of new CCTV in
vehicles is ready to commence but, due to the £330,000 cost,
a full European Union procurement exercise is required, which will
delay expenditure until 2020/21;

(f)
the initial work for a new Worksop Fire Station is currently on
hold as the East Midlands Ambulance Service has indicated that it
may need to withdraw from the project due to a review of its
operational model;

(g)
the cost of fuel remains a concern for the Service and a
contingency sum is held within reserves in case of emergency;

(h)
in terms of Prudential Code Monitoring, total borrowing at the end
of August 2019 was within the operational and authorised limits, at
£25.6million. There has been no borrowing activity since the
start of the financial year. All current loans are on
fixed-interest terms.

RESOLVED to:

(1)approve the reallocation of the unneeded £200,000
whole-time pay budget to cover overtime pay in whole-time roles,
where additional cover has been required due to long-term
sickness;

(2)approve the reallocation of £205,000 between the
uniformed and non-uniformed staff budgets, where some senior
vacancies have been filled on a temporary basis by non-uniformed
members of staff;

(3)approve the reallocation of £35,000 from the
underspend in the overall on-call drills and training budget to
on-call pension provision, where an overspend is anticipated due to
the new superannuation rates announced in March;

(4)approve the reallocation of £65,000 from the
underspend in the on-call drills and training budget towards
on-call community safety work, which has been identified as a
priority in the Strategic Plan and an area requiring improvement in
the recent Service inspection;

(5)reinstate the £22,000 budget for the conversion
of hose reel equipment into the 2019/20 capital programme;

(6)approve the slippage of the £313,000 capital
expenditure for new CCTV in vehicles to the 2020/21 budget.

Leila Henry, Head of Corporate Support,
presented a report on the corporate risk management process and the
current version of the Corporate Risk Register. The following
points were discussed:

(a)
the four highest risks in the Register are the use of vehicles on
Service business; the mobilisation process; health, safety and
welfare; and working at height;

(b)
mobilisation processes have been reviewed to take account of
changes following the implementation of Joint Fire Control.
Additional governance and oversight, together with the development
and testing of business continuity arrangements, has been put in
place to ensure that there is no overall change to the risk rating.
Due to a recent issue with ladders in the Service and a couple of
serious incidents nationally, the risks relating to working at
height are being managed closely and actively. All ladders on
engines are serviced every twelve weeks. Where necessary, stations
that have new risks in their areas, such as building sites with
construction cranes, will assess these risks and ensure that
firefighters are adequately trained to deal with them;

(c)
agency reporting and a multi-agency planning structure is in place
through the Local Resilience Forum for the UK’s exit from
membership of the European Union. The Service has business
continuity arrangements in place to deal with a range of
eventualities but, given the high levels of uncertainty, an
£800,000 contingency has been included in the General Fund
Reserve.

Leila Henry, Head of Corporate Support,
presented a report on the management of occupational road risk,
which is a major risk area on the Corporate Risk Register. The
following points were discussed:

(a)
the previous vehicle insurer declined to renew its policy with the
Service due to a number of recent, high-cost claims. As a result,
the 2019/20 Road Risk Action Plan has been updated with new actions
following recommendations from the Fleet Risk Review Report 2019,
which was completed by the Service’s new vehicle
insurers;

(b)
the focus of the Action Plan is on developing driver skills and
behaviours, with the aim of reducing the frequency of slow-speed
manoeuvring accidents. These actions are in addition to the
Service’s routine driver training and other fleet management
activities. In addition to the work outlined in the Action Plan,
Nottingham Trent University has provided the Service with four
driver training packages to supplement the existing driver training
in hazard perception. These have been incorporated in the
Service’s e-learning system. Where appropriate, knowledge and
best-practice sharing arrangements are in place with Derbyshire and
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Services, and with Nottinghamshire
Police;

(c)
it is anticipated that recruitment to a vacant post within the
Service’s Driver Training Team will be completed by January
2020, to provide the necessary resource to enable completion of the
outstanding actions in the Action Plan;

(d)
the planned improvement to CCTV systems on fire engines will also
improve driver safety and allow for remote access to the camera
footage;

(e)
following the introduction of these measures, a full performance
report will be brought to the next meeting of the Committee to set
out the improvements made and to close the two outstanding items in
the Road Risk Action Plan.

16.

Exclusion of the Public

To consider excluding the public from the
meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance
with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis
that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest
in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in
disclosing the information

Minutes:

RESOLVED to exclude
the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining
item in accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act
1972, under Schedule 12A, Part 1, Paragraph 3, on the basis that,
having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in
maintaining an exemption outweighs the public interest in
disclosing the information.